Fishing with Captain Greg Hildreth on the Georgia
Coast 
Once-a-Month Reds
Editor’s Note: Captain Greg Hildreth of Brunswick,
Georgia, fishes Georgia’s Atlantic Coast for speckled
trout, redfish, flounder and tarpon. That’s right,
tarpon. Most people don’t realize that Georgia
has a saltwater coast. Few people even know that this
is a tarpon hotspot during the heat of the summer. It
also has some tremendous marsh and beach fishing and
one of the most-unusual tripletail fisheries in the
nation. Boaters and sailors up the East Coast sail down
to Sea Island and Jekyll Island for tennis, golf and
high-dollar resort living. Most people never consider
the outstanding saltwater fishing available just off
the fairways. This week, we’ll look at some of
the finest saltwater fishing in the nation that receives
little fishing pressure.
Question: Greg, you’re catching redfish on a
new moon and a high tide. How are you doing it, and
when are you doing it?
Hildreth: A normal tide around the Brunswick area is
about a 7-feet tide. When you get close to the full
moon or the new moon, the tides are much bigger. Around
that time, we have tides that will be 8- to 8-1/2-feet
high. When we have those big tides, the water moves
out into the marsh, which allows the redfish to get
in the grass and root like hogs for fiddler crabs. When
we have big tides, you can either wade-fish or use a
small poling boat to get back in the grass and catch
some redfish. If you get back in the grass during the
big tides, you can see the tailing redfish (their tails
stick up out of the water due to the very-shallow water),
anywhere from 36- to 42-inches long. When we’re
fishing the high tide on a full or a new moon, we’re
still using jerkbaits, but we’re not using leaded
hooks. We’re fishing with a standard No. 3/0 bass
hook, and we’re rigging the bait weedless.
Question: How are you getting fish to take the bait?
Hildreth: Once again, we’ll cast past the redfish,
work the bait fast and attempt to get it to freefall
in front of the redfish. Oftentimes, these fish will
be so high in the water that their entire tails will
be sticking up out of the water. You can easily see
them in that flooded grass. These fish will be holding
in water that’s 8-inches to knee deep. We’re
catching these fish on a full tide instead of a falling
tide. These big spring tides don’t come around
except once a month, which means we only have about
three days of prime in-the-grass fishing. The critical
key to this type of fishing is to get the tide chart
down and know when that tide will hit because you’re
fishing with the tide. Most of the people who go fishing
with me during those high-tide periods are booking well
in advance, so that they know when the tide’s
going to hit. Our entire trip will be based on the tide.
You can double-down on this type o f
trip because you can fish the high tide way back in
the grass for the redfish. When the tide falls out,
you can fish the low tide using the other technique
I described earlier for the tailing fish. You can have
a great trip at this time of year and catch fish that
are coming and going. If you fish that new moon period,
you can get six hours of fishing in by fishing the high
tide back in the grass and fishing the low tide when
it falls out. The big difference is that on the low
tide, you’re using a jerkbait with a weight on
it. On the high tide, you’re using jerkbait without
a weight. Either way, we’re catching redfish on
the Spike-It jerkbait. It’s the time of day and
the tide that determine how we rig it.
Question: On the high tide, when the water comes in,
how many fish are you catching?
Hildreth: We catch fewer fish on the big tide than on
the low tide. Three or four reds will be a good trip.
However, I enjoy being able to pole up close to those
big redfish, get in close to them, and then take them.
That’s the real thrill for me.
You can contact Captain Greg Hildreth at 912-261-1763,
or visit www.georgiacharterfishing.com.
Tomorrow: The Tarpon Are Coming
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